


A Fresh Start?

by somerandomficstowrite



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Adventure Gone Wrong, Bickering, Family Feels, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Multi, My take on Godlie's past before Dawson, R&R, She's just such a fun character and I wished we had more of her in the show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29241033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somerandomficstowrite/pseuds/somerandomficstowrite
Summary: Goldie teams up with the McDuck family on an adventure and, in an attempt to save Louie, loses her memory. Not everyone in the mansion is convinced that this isn't just one of her schemes, old grudges resurface, and family bonds gets stretched.
Relationships: McDuck Family, Scrooge McDuck/"Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt
Comments: 45
Kudos: 125





	1. The Mist

**Author's Note:**

> I just want some more Goldie content, so I decided to make some of my own. I think it would be fun to see how a younger Goldie would interact with the world and how the family would handle it.

“This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down.”

It was a thought She’d had many times before. It was the usual outcome when teaming up with the McDuck family, but usually it came with a happier ending than this. As she took a final look back at her protégée, she saw the denial in his face as he stood frozen with an arm protectively holding him back. The owner of said arm had a very different facial expression, one which would have broken Goldie if she had been able to process anything in that moment. Instead, her attention was focused on not screaming out in pain. She was doing a moderate job at it, but small sounds of pain were slipping through her control as the mystical mist thickened around her.

The other younglings in their various colours were standing a bit further away, at least they would be safe. It had been a stupid idea. One which she wouldn’t have considered on her own, but with Scrooge’s entire entourage present and positive to the idea, how could she have said no?

She hadn’t even planned to join the family on this treasure hunt. This time she had just accidentally run into them as opposed to her previous trackings. Both parties had been very surprised, but with fading suspicion, they had decided to team up. And now here she was. About to pass out from the overwhelming burning sensation of her body. Words couldn’t describe how horrendous the mist felt and it seemed like her mind was also giving up on trying to process it. Her brain was overwhelmed, silent and screaming at the same time.

This was it, she realized. All the things she hasn’t said or done, would never happen. In the cloud of pain, this inner sorrow she was too mentally tired to fully pinpoint, seemed to be the last straw for her senses. As she felt herself sink to the ground, the last thing she saw through the hazy white of the mist was the distinct red of scrooge’s coat and then nothing.

~

“How could I have let this happen?”.

Scrooge couldn’t believe the screen playing out before his eyes. It had all gone so quickly. One moment everything had been fine, then the next Goldie had pushed Louie forcefully aside as the infamous guardian mist of the cave had started to form around him and taken his place. Scrooge had been unable to do anything but put his arm up to make sure Louie wouldn’t try to go after her.

Little was known about the mist itself other than the stories of the locals at the base of the mountain. These tales spoke of how a white mist would sometimes ambush a group of travellers to single out one of heavy heart and zone in on them. Anyone who made it through the mist would be changed forever. Once it had formed around its victim, there was no escaping it. No bribery would work, no words of plea, no amount of running. This was a force which seemed to care little for the world it inhabited and even less so for the individuals in it. The only way to get in and out of the cave without encountering its guardian, was to not alert it of your presence. Something they had managed to avoid doing for most of their adventure. That of course until the Huey and Webby had deciphered a code along the cave walls, supposedly holding the key to entering the hidden vault at the end of the cave.

The key had been to harmonize to the right frequency into an amplifier to unlock the secret door. Goldie had pointed out the tales of the mist, arguing that it would be safer to just try and break in. Dewey had of course immediately been upset at the notion that his talents would go to waste in such a break in, and that “it just wasn’t right to deny him and Webby the opportunity to use their harmonies for good!”, that they “just had to Dew it!” and that “since Goldie wasn’t even supposed to be there, she could just leave if couldn’t handle their adventureness”.

Webby, seemingly also excited at the possibility to harmonize her way to treasure, had been trying very hard to hide this fact to not upset Goldie. It was no secret that the girl was intrigued by the woman who had bested both her and her grandmother in a fight. To make sure no fighting broke out, Scrooge had been on his way to take control of the situation. Before he could do so, Louie had simply suggested that they create a distraction for the mist at another end of the cave for it to not detect them at the secret door. Huey had agreed that the acoustics of the cave would allow them to mask the sounds of their song by creating noise in a very specific place at the other side of the cave.

With this information it was been impossible to convince the kids to not go through with their plan. Scrooge had looked apologetically at Goldie who had just rolled her eyes back at him with a small smile. His heart had felt so warm during the next moments, as he watched her team up with Louie to create the distraction noise; joking with him and caringly ruffling his head as they worked. Never in his long lifetime would he have imagined seeing the Ice queen of Dawson slowly melt to this extent. Sure, he knew that she would somehow stab him in the back before this was all over, but in that moment, he had thought that seeing her get along so well with Louie was worth the future betrayal.

Shortly after that. other three ducks had been ready to go at the other side of the cave and so Louie had in turn activated the distraction. Sadly, it had worked a little too well. Before Louie had had the chance to step away from the device, the air around him had started to shift. Earlier than the McDuck family could react, Goldie, who had been standing next to Louie, had swapped their places. Cementing her fate.

As he now looked at her with absolute horror in his eyes, he knew there was nothing he could do for her now that the mist was fully upon her. It was too late to take her place like she’d done for his nephew. Instead, he was forced to stand a few meters away from her as she was quickly swallowed up by the cloud of white. Seeing her trying desperately to keep her composure and stay silent trough what was clearly an incredible amount of pain broke his heart. To be so close to her, to see her suffer so clearly, and yet be completely unable to do anything, to even be at her side through it, it was just too much. He didn’t even notice the tears as they were silently falling from his eyes. They’d been through so much together, and yet there were so many words unspoken between the two of them. Now they hung silently in the air as the unspoken love of his life was falling to the ground unconscious, the mist still surrounding her. Deafening silence suddenly spread across the room.

For a second nobody moved.

“Is she….” Webby quietly asked as she broke the silence a moment later and slowly walked up to Louie’s side.

“According to the legends, it is entirely possible that she will wake up in a few minutes when the mist clears” Stated Huey with as much hope he could muster up.

Goldie looked almost like a ghost as the white mist skewed their perspective of her. Huey didn’t particularly like her personally. He had had little to do with her and she certainly don’t respect rules or regulations, but he had seen how happy she made their uncle and more recently his little brother, who had sometimes found it hard to confide in their mom. He needed to believe that she would be okay for their sake.

Louie snapped out of his frozen state; “But what will she wake up as? The stories all say that anyone who goes into the mist will change… She was right and we didn’t listen. Now she’s paying the price…” His words were angry, but his voice carried no punch to it. Instead, a mix of fear, guilt, sadness cut through it.

“Hey this is not on us!” Said Dewey defensively. “Who could have known that the mist would be so fast? Or that it would be targeting you of all people?! You’re like the least targetable one in this situation!”  
Louie’s head suddenly snapped towards the other side of the cave where Dewey was still standing, seemingly unwilling to completely give up on the adventure.

Before he could answer his brother Webby interrupted the two triplets. “Guys…” She said pleadingly and pointed towards their Uncle; who’s gaze was still transfixed on the motionless Goldie. Watching as the mist slowly dissolved into the air around her.

The boys both haltered their debate and Louie seemed to gather himself and put his walls back up. “Uncle Scrooge?” He asked carefully as he lowered the arm in red which was still frozen protectively in front of the green triplet.

This seemed to return Scrooge’s attention to the kids and his surroundings as he addressed them without changing his gaze. “Whatever happens next, we need to get her out of here once the mist clears. Huey and Dewey! Go get Launchpad. We might need his help to carry her out of here if…if she doesn’t wake up directly” Scrooge’s tone was flat and filled with a false sense of hope that adults sometimes liked to use when situations looked worse than they wanted to admit to children.

Before Dewey had a chance to protest, the red triplet grabbed his arm and started dragging him out of the cave. “We’ll be back before you know it!” He said in a slightly too cheerful tone and then they were gone.

The remaining ducks stood silent and waited for a few moments that felt like years.

Webby felt like she had to be the one keeping the other two’s spirits up and so she tried her best to hold her worries back as she spoke. “It looks like the mist is gone now! Should we try to wake her up?”  
“Are we sure the mist won’t just come back for her?” Asked Louie without moving.

Webby put a hand on his shoulder. “According to the locals the mist only takes one of the party, and once it is done, it’s done, so it really shouldn’t try for a second round! It should be safe!”

“Aye” Scrooge was already by her side, kneeling down to take her pulse. As he felt a slow, but steady beat, he let out a breath of relief. Regardless of how she would wake up, she was alive, and he would be there for her this time around. He touched her cheek gently as he whispered, low so the approaching children wouldn’t hear him. “You better be fine Goldie girl. I need you to be”.

Unfortunately, as several moments passed, Goldie did not stirr, leaving the ducks with an unexpected situation on their hands. 

"We're gonna have to take her with us home and hope for the best" Scrooge commented defeated. 

Webby's expression tightened at the words."Oh dear. Granny is not going to like this hah" 


	2. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is less than thrilled at Goldie's appearance at the mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic, so I'm very happily surprised by the positive feedback from the first chapter! Thank you for tuning in!  
> These next chapters are a bit slower in pace, so hope that'll be fine

“We’re ready to land now Mr McD!”. Launchpad’s cheerful voice echoed from the cockpit down to the cargo bay where Goldie had been strapped in for the flight. Scrooge sat next to her, holding her hand in an attempt to make sure she would be fine in the unavoidable crashlanding Launchpad was guiding them towards.

As it turned out, the crash was one of Launchpad’s softer ones and very little of the aircraft was actually broken. Scrooge helped Launchpad free Goldie’s unconscious form, which he picked up just as easily as if she had been one of the kids. Scrooge had made the move to try to be the one to carry her, but Dewey had reminded him that he was “super old” and would probably break something.

Reluctantly accepting of this fact, he now walked out of the place beside Launchpad and kept his eyes the duck being cradled by him. It was odd to see Goldie look so small in Launchpad’s arms and Scrooge felt a strong sense of protection towards her that he tried to ignore. There were more important matters to deal with, he could deal with his emotions later. First, they had to know what they were dealing with.

Soon the ducks were making their way across the garden towards the mansion. As they got closer, Huey suddenly seemed to realize something.

“Uncle Scrooge…Did you call ahead and let anyone know the current…situation?”

Scrooge looked at him and frowned. “No lad, why would I have done that? We are almost back anyway”

Huey looked slightly uncomfortable, but continued nonetheless. “It’s just that, well, the last few times we’ve mentioned that Miss Goldie was involved in our adventures haven’t exactly gone down smoothly with Mrs Beakley or Uncle Donald.”

“More like Mrs B wants to punch her in the face and Uncle Donald wants to… I don’t know… scream at her really loudly for a while I guess?” Dewey translated, looking slightly amused at the thought.

“Nonsense! I’m sure Bentina and Donald wouldn’t have anything against her now. She is passed out and needs medical attention. Ever they can’t argue with that!” Scrooge said reassuringly as they entered the front doors.

*Crash!*

A plate hit the wall just above Goldies head before Launchpad had taken more than a step inside.

Scrooge sighed “Or maybe she can”.

“Granny no!” Webby shouted as her grandmother aimed a second plate against the home intruder.

With reluctance Mrs Beakley lowered her hand with the plate in, but she didn’t put it away. “Why is she here again? I thought I made it abundantly clear that we had to stop inviting villains over to the house!”

“Bentina, she is hurt and needs help” Scrooge tried to reason with his housekeeper.

“What a shame. Send her to the hospital” Mrs Beakley replied in a monotone voice.

Scrooge pinched the bridge of his beak “This is not the kind of hurt the hospital knows anything about. Some kind of force has done something to her, and we need to figure out what that is. Until we do, she stays here!”

Mrs Beakley looked unconvinced but stayed quiet.

Scrooge sighed again. He was getting too old for this type of arguing. “Look. We have no idea what this force has done to her, what if it has driven her insane? Or given her some type of power? Would you really want an even more unpredictable version of Goldie in the world with no idea of her whereabouts?”

Bentina nodded unenthusiastically “I suppose keeping her close and monitoring her state makes sense. But she stays away from my granddaughter!”

“But Grannyyy!” Webby exclaimed. There was so much the young girl wanted to know about the infamous duck of Scrooge’s past. So much potential material for her wall!

Still worried about the other duck’s state, Scrooge grew frustrated and short. “Ugh. Fine. Can we go get one of the guest rooms set up for her now? The poor woman is out cold! It’s not like she is goin’ to make any trouble!”

Mrs Beakley remained professional but rolled her eyes. “Goldie O’Gilt not making trouble? Well, that would be a first. Nevertheless, I recently fixed up the rooms in your end of the house so she can stay there. Far away from the kids”

Eager to get moving, Scrooge ignored the jab and quickly answered. “Great. Launchpad. With me. Kids. You go with Bentina and get something to eat”

Huey, Dewey, and Webby all turned to follow Mrs Beakley into the kitchen. Louie on the other hand hovered and tried to join the adults heading upstairs. Scrooge could tell that his nephew didn’t want anyone to notice how worried he was, but that he was also reluctant to completely leave Goldie’s side. In any other situation he would have loved to make fun of Goldie for turning soft in her old age and adopting a nephew, but at the moment it was a grim reminder what they might have lost. 

Scrooge turned and spoke gently to his nephew in green. “Lad, that means you too. Goldie isn’t goin’ anywhere for now. You might as well get some food in you before she wakes up”

Louie looked like he might object but seemed to notice how tired his uncle looked, and so he just put his hands in his pockets and turned around towards the kitchen. He couldn’t shake the image of Goldie surrounded by the mist or the feeling of guilt that accompanied it, but he knew there was no point to arguing. The younger duck paused for a second before entering the kitchen, making sure his siblings and Webby wouldn’t be able to notice his worries and thoughts. 

Meanwhile Scrooge and Launchpad had gotten Goldie tucked into a bed in a room next to Scrooge’s. Scrooge had found himself a chair and propped it up next to her bed and was sternly refusing to join Launchpad in going downstairs for pancakes.

“Okay Mr McD! I’ll just bring you some for later! Maybe when your girlfriend wakes up you can come down together and eat!” Launchpad shouted happily as he walked out the door

“She’s not my…ugh” Scrooge didn’t have the energy to fully correct him. He was already halfway out of the door and probably only had pancake toppings on his mind now anyways. Besides, Scrooge didn’t actually know what he would call Goldie anymore.

She had been his ex-everything, but recently it had felt like they were too involved in each other’s lives to call her his ex-anything. She was in the present. But that didn’t mean that they were together. They were Scrooge McDuck and Goldie O’Gilt. Nothing was ever simple with the two of them in the same place.  


They cared for each other, but he could never trust her fully. And she could never trust herself to stay anywhere. Sometimes he’d wonder how she ended up so mistrusting, but he had never taken the opportunity to ask her. She didn’t like to talk about her past. Said it made her feel too old and that she’d rather focus on the future. 

The woman was a mystery. But one Scrooge loved to try and solve. Always with some trick up her sleeve and a wickedly smart plan in her mind. Which was exactly why it worried him so much to see her out cold like this. If one didn’t know better, one could think she was peacefully sleeping. Sadly, Scrooge did know better, and he was really starting to wonder why she hadn’t woken up yet. However, he was determined to not leave her side until she did.

~

In the kitchen the kids were giving Mrs Beakley a run down of their adventure. Well, most of them anyway. Louie only added affirmative sounds here and there, but was clearly getting annoyed at his brother’s retelling of their trip.

“And then she didn’t even want to let us try so open the door the right way? Like hello? We’re esteemed adventurers, not boring thieves!” Louie rolled his eyes at Dewey’s dramatic word choices. 

Dewey didn’t seem to notice as he was very swept up in his storytelling. “Anyways, so we were just about to start jamming out when the mist just started to show up around Louie and then Goldie just shoved him out of the way and passed out. We had to leave without actually even trying to get past the door!”

The blue triplet seemed almost more concerned about this lack of adventure, than the fact that they now had an unconscious guest in their house. Something which made the rest of the kids feel a bit uncomfortable, even Webby made a face at his phrasing of the events.

Mrs Beakley sat down her cup of tea and sighed. “So, you boys are telling me that Miss O’Gilt did something seemingly selfless for no financial gain... Are you sure there was nothing she could obtain from going through the mist?”

“According to the locals and the legends, several people don’t actually make it through the mist. The ones who do are supposedly changed somehow, but the way nobody spoke about how they were changed makes me think it is not in a very nice way. I can’t imagine that Miss Goldie would take such a risk” Huey answered thoughtfully.

“And what if she knew something about it that you did not?” Mrs Beakley’s words were of a normal tone, but the accusation behind them was clearly present.

“That is statistically improbably considering the amount of research we did on this cave before going, and how little is actually written about it. Even the junior woodchuck guidebook only has one paragraph on it” Huey countered as he held up his copy of the book to show Mrs Beakley.

Mrs Beakley looked gently at the red triplet. “I don’t want to sound rude dear, but is it not possible that a disreputable individual such as Miss O’Gilt could have acquired this information in ways you would not have approved of? After all, this wouldn’t be the first time she tried to play the long game”

“Well, I suppose that is possible” Huey said thoughtfully.

“Does that matter?” Interrupted Louie angrily. “She probably saved my life! Should that count for something?” 

Mrs Beakley’s stern look softened slightly at his outburst. “Of course, it does Louie, but that doesn’t mean that we can let our guard down around her. Don’t you remember how that went last time you trusted her?” The words seemed to have hit home as the green triplet averted his gaze and starred down on the table in front of him. Webby made a face towards her grandmother, indicating that this might not be the time.

Realizing this, Mrs Beakley quickly added, “I’m not saying I’m not grateful for what she did, I’m just saying that we should stay vigilant for her reasons behind doing so to reveal themselves”

Although Mrs Beakley wanted to give Goldie the benefit of the doubt, she had too much history with the other duck. She had been there to pick up the pieces Goldie has left behind after her visits in Scrooge’s life. She could respect the cleverness she other duck possessed, but Goldie visiting was like a hurricane. She’d arrive and turn everyday life upside down for a bit, knowing that Scrooge could never say no to an adventure with her, and so she seemed to have no concept tact or tone. However, Mrs Beakley knew that that part was none of her business.

Instead, the real problem was that as certain it was that that Scrooge would always follow Goldie’s crazy ideas, it was equally certain that she would always leave him. Most often in the night without saying goodbye, something which usually sent Scrooge into days of sulking afterwards. Both of them were stubborn fools, but Goldie was both a fool and a con artist. Because of that, Mrs Beakley hoped this was not one of her schemes, but was not prepared to believe it without certain proof and a thorough check of the mansion’s valuables.

The children did however not have the full context of this, and Louie felt like Mrs Beakley wasn’t listening to him or understanding what he meant. As Goldie was someone who he had started look up to and identify with, their suspicion and reluctance to appreciate her doing something good for once, felt personal. It made Louie wonder how they felt about him and his past schemes. Did they still not fully trust him? He had tried to make up for it, but most of his family still didn’t seem to understand him the way Goldie did.

“So, it doesn’t matter if she’s trying to be better. This family just holds on to old grudges doesn’t it?” He said with a low voice as he got up from the table.

Webby seemed to understand where his thoughts were going. “Louie wait, that’s not what she means!”

“Whatever. I’m going to check up on Uncle Scrooge.” Louie said avoidantly as he quickly left the room.

Huey and Webby exchanged looks at this but let him go. Dewey did not seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary and was happily discussing the latest game at Funso’s with Launchpad.

As Louie made his way upstairs, he felt lonelier than he had done in a while. His siblings didn’t feel the guilt or worry he felt. And they had Della who understood them and could talk to them about this kind of stuff. Louie had warmed up to his mum, but she was still not someone he felt really got him.

With uncle Donald out of town for a job for the last weeks, Louie had made a habit of texting Goldie whenever he felt like he needed some advice. And even if her replies were mostly sarcastic or along the lines of “Sharpie I am not a middle school councillor”, it was nice to know she was always there to listen to him. Even at stupid hours in the night. She always tried to cover it up by saying she was out on a job, but Louie wondered if she just had his ringtone turned up. It was strange that he couldn’t just text her now.

He suddenly found himself outside the door to the room he assumed Goldie was in. There was light coming through from the other side and he had never seen the bedroom in use for anything before, so this had to be it. He knocked loudly on the door before entering to make sure they would be aware of his presence.

As Louie opened the door, he saw his uncle, who seemingly had fallen asleep at Goldie’s side, slowly rise to properly sit in his armchair next to the bed.

Slightly disoriented from his accidental nap, Scrooge took a quick look at Louie at the door and then to Goldie who was finally starting to stir. His eyes widened and quickly waved his nephew over.

“Goldie?...” Scrooge asked gently, placing a hand on her arm.

Her eyes slowly blinked open as she seemed to orient herself. Gently pushing Scrooge’s hand away from her arm, she pushed herself up to sitting as she leaned against the many pillows. Scrooge and Louie were both relieved to see that she was awake and able to move properly.

However, in the next moment, their relief was cut short.

Goldie looked tiredly at the two eager ducks next to her bed and gave them a crooked smile. “Um, hi…So, who are you two? And where on earth am I?”


	3. The Family Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out someone else also has history with Goldie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do love all the characters, but I would especially love to see some of them get some more depth, so here I am, attempting to do a bit of that haha

Goldie’s head hurt and her body felt like lead. She couldn’t remember any reason for feeling this way, but assumed there was one. As she opened her eyes, she found herself in a large fancy room. This was already a big red flag as this was not the kind of room she’d casually find herself in. Feeling a small weight on her arm and she realized that an older duck was sitting on an armchair next to the bed she was in and a young duck dressed in green was standing next to him. They both looked very relieved to see her awake. “This is not a job then” She realized. Nobody would be that happy to see their intruder wake up.

The older duck had his hand gently and reassuringly resting on her arm. A strange sense of familiarity and warmth spread across her mind from this, but she couldn’t quite place it. Confused, she gently brushed it away.

As she pushed herself up to sitting, she noticed that she was struggling to do so. Whatever had happened had really done a number on her. She couldn’t remember feeling this exhausted since her first months of Miss Jane’s training. Come to think of it, Goldie found herself unable to place how long ago that had actually been. It felt like a lifetime away, but also like it had just happened. She brushed off the disorientation, blaming it on the pain in her head. It was instead time to figure out where she was.

Returning her focus to the ducks by her side, she finally addressed them. “Um, hi…So, who are you two? And where on earth am I?” A sense of recognition lingered in her periphery, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Her observers’ faces suddenly fell, and she realized the situation might be more complicated than she first thought.

The older duck seemed to quickly consider the situation before he answered her. “My name is Scrooge McDuck, this is Louie, my great nephew. This is my house. You had a… an incident lass. We brought you here to make sure you were alright”. His words made sense, but Goldie felt like there was something vital missing in that story.

The surprised look on the younger duck’s face confirmed this. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Goldie realized she didn’t actually know the answer to that. Her mind was clear, but her memory was jumbled. She considered lying, but it felt wrong for some reason. “I..I’m actually not sure. It feels like a cluster of bees has found its way into my head if I’m being honest” She let out a small chuckle at the imagery.

The older duck, no, McDuck, she corrected herself. McDuck was looking more worried by the minute. They clearly knew each other somehow, but Goldie had no intention to push that conversation right now. She desperately wanted to go back to sleep.

“Do you remember Dawson? The Golden lagoon of White Agony planes?” He looked almost pleading as he asked her, and she felt a stab of guilt at her answer.

“No, sorry to disappoint. You must have me confused with someone else. I have never even been to Canarda” Normally, she’d figure out a better answer, one which he was clearly looking for, but for now the truth had to do.

The look she got from the two ducks made it abundantly clear that this was indeed not the answer they wanted to hear.

~

Scrooge didn’t want to believe it. On the one hand he was grateful that Goldie seemed to be okay and functioning normally, but it seemed that the mist had taken most of her memories. Him and Louie had tried to determine the extent of the loss without making Goldie too concerned or suspicious. She knew who she was, but it seemed like the last hundred years or so of her personal history had just been evaporated from her mind.

Stunned as they had been, they had decided to let her go back to sleep after a few minutes, as she had quickly grown tired as she spoke. Before they left, Scrooge had checked that the windows were locked in case there was enough O’Gilt instinct left in her to try and escape thought a window. 

Standing outside the room with a closed door between them, Scrooge paused for a second to collect his thoughts and emotions. It felt so wrong to look at the woman he’d known for so long, longer than most people in his life, and not see a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. She meant so many things to him and at the moment, he meant nothing to her. That realisation stung.

“Uncle Scrooge, you okay?” Scrooge suddenly became aware of a concerned figure next to him and remembered that Louie was there too.

Composing himself Scrooge realized this was a situation he would have to inform his whole family about, and he sighed. “I’m fine lad. A bit confused naturally, but I feel like we can allow us that for tonight. It’s been a long day. How about we round of the rest of the house and update them on what’s going on?”

Louie looked sympathetically at his uncle and put his hands in his pockets. “Sounds like a plan to me” He said without enthusiasm. He wasn’t feeling like seeing his entire family at the moment, instead he wanted to go curl up in his bed.

This was something Scrooge would probably picked up on if his mind wasn’t so preoccupied with Goldie and potential plans to get her memory back. Instead, the older duck wrote this change in tone down to Louie’s normal laid-back demeanour and the two went to gather everyone for a family meeting.

~

A short while later everyone who was home was gathered in the living room. The kids were sitting on the sofa and Louie in an armchair. Mrs Beakley was glaring at Duckworth who was hoovering at the end of the couch. Della had just recently arrived home after her day out with Penny and was sitting on a chair eating leftovers. Scrooge was standing by the TV and straightened up as he addressed the room.

“Hello everybody. Some of you will know why I have called this family meeting and some of you will not” He glanced at Della who was obliviously chewing and gave him a thumbs up.

“As you know, me and the kids were on an adventure today and we ran into Goldie on the way, so we teamed up. After an unfortunate event, she went through a mystical mist and passed out. She is seemingly fine, but has a memory loss of the last hundred years or more. She is quite weak and slightly disoriented, and we don’t know how her condition will change.” Scrooge knew some people were not going to like the upcoming part and so he spoke quickly and with authority.

“This means that she will be staying here at the mansion with us until she is recovered. Until then I expect you all to be on your best behaviour and keep your personal scores with Goldie out of the picture. Any questions?” Before he could look around the room, a strangled noise came from Della.

She coughed as she chewed down the last of her food before aggressively looking at Scrooge. “Uncle Scrooge! You can’t expect us to house Goldie O’Gilt of all people! We can’t trust her! This is _so_ one of her plans to steal something from you!”

“Mom!” Louie exclaimed in surprise. He had not expected such a strong reaction from her.

“For once I agree with you Della.” Beakley looked sternly at Scrooge “Having her walk around freely in the mansion is reckless”

“I for one don’t think Miss O’Gilt would create more trouble with memory loss than she normally does whenever she lets herself into the mansion on occasion. One would assume that any good housekeep would keep track of such occurrences” Duckworth said with a gleeful tint in his eyes as he looked at Mrs Beakley.

“How can we be sure she really has memory loss even? It is like the easiest injury to fake! ‘Hey what’s up strangers! I can’t remember my past, so let me just take these treasures to remind me of it’!” Della continued on her previous rant.

“I could tell from her eyes! She had no idea who I was!” Scrooge frustratedly interrupted.

“Mr McDuck, _sir_ , you are the most biased party here when it comes to Miss O’Gilt. I don’t think we can exclude the possibility that she is tricking you” Mrs Beakley replied, seemingly trying to appeal to his logical side.

This just seemed to anger Scrooge more. “I may be biased but I am not blind Bentina! Something is not right with her”

“Oh, something is not right with her indeed!” Della jabbed spitefully

The kids were sitting quietly watching how the conversation quickly became heated. None of them had expected this level of drama from a short meeting, but after all, how often did family meetings in the McDuck Manor go smoothly?

Della’s last comment became the last straw for Louie, who was feeling more and more frustrated as the day continued on. “Everyone just shut up for a second!” The adults fell silent and turned to the triplet. “I don’t care if you trust her or not right now. Goldie saved me and the least we can do for her is to let her stay here until she feels better!”

Hearing this Della seemed to hesitate. Mrs Beakley just sighed, remembering the end of the previous conversation in the kitchen.

“Louie dear, of course she is going to stay here. This is your uncle’s mansion after all. We are just…concerned about it” She said gently but sternly.

Scrooge frowned but seemed to ease up a bit. “Your concern is appreciated Bentina, but you have to trust me on this. And I was not born yesterday. We can all keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but remember, we are dealing with the aftermath of a magical mist. There’s not telling exactly what has happened to her or if it will change on its own. I would suggest that we come up with an action plan, but it is already late and we’ve had a long day, so that will have to wait until tomorrow”

Mrs Beakley looked somewhat satisfied with this. At least Scrooge was encouraging them to be cautious. That meant that he himself was as well, even if to a lesser extent. Mrs Beakley could work with that.

Della, however, did not want to. “But Uncle Scrooge! Remember how…”

Scrooge looked at her with a tired gaze. “Not now lass. This is not the time for old grievances. We can talk more tomorrow”

Della seemed to realize this was a battle she was going to lose. “Okay kids. Let’s get you all to bed then. Seems like we’ve got an interesting day ahead of us tomorrow” Her tone was happy and fake, doing little to hide her frustration over the situation. 

The kids realized it was better just go along with it, said goodnight to the adults, and made their way upstairs.

~

The mansion had gotten dark and the corridors were dimly lit as the kids walked through them.

“Mrs B I can understand more, but I don’t get why mom of all people is so upset with Goldie. I didn’t even know they’d met” said Louie frustrated as they walked towards their room.

Webby was about to continue on to her own room paused. “It is strange. But considering how old Goldie is, it is likely that her and your mom have had run ins in the past. Ooo what if they fought over the same treasures! What if they have an old blood feud that spans the decades! What if…”

“Not helping Webs” Louie said tiredly. He knew she just wanted to help but he was too exhausted for her hypothetical scenarios.

Webby looked a bit sheepish, knowing she’d let her imagination run off. Louie offered her a tired smile to let her know he wasn’t actually annoyed at her.

“I guess it does make sense that they’ve met considering that Miss Goldie and uncle Scrooge go way back and mom used to live her before she left” Huey analysed

“Whatever Goldie did it can’t have been good considering how mom reacted. I think we should set up a system to monitor her so we can catch her out if she is faking the whole thing. Mom would be so happy with us!” Dewey looked excited and expectantly towards the other kids, clearly expecting them to agree with him.

Huey looked sceptically towards his brother. “I don’t know. That feels a bit extreme to do without proper evidence. Mom does seem to have a few pent-up grudges towards people after being away. Do you guys remember how angry she was when she first saw Gyro?”

The kids snickered at the memory of Gyro using Fenton as a human shield as Della shouted insults at him, threatening to tell Scrooge all about his “secret projects” if he ever even mentioned liquorish in her presence again.

Huey continued. “Maybe she is like uncle Donald and she just has to get the anger out before she can calm down again?”

He did believe his mom would have a good reason for being angry, but considering the current situation, that was not enough to go on. He was following Junior woodchuck rule 53; _When in doubt, gather and analyse further data before making a decision_. With everyone so emotional, Huey wanted to continue to stay calm and logical about the situation.

“We should probably try to focus on getting her memory back instead of stalking her” Webby offered, noting how Louie’s seemed to grow irritated again. She knew Goldie meant a lot to him and she didn’t want the triplets to fight like the adults, so she was trying to change the subject.

Dewey rolled his eyes at the suggestion. “If she’s even lost it in the first place you mean”

Before anyone could reply to Dewey’s statement an amused voice came from behind them. “Who lost what kids? Seems like it was you and your momentum to your beds! Come on, off you go” Della pretended to nag them but her smile gave her away.

The triplets said goodnight to Webby and Della as they went into room. Louie quickly went into his bed and put his headphones on and turned on the music app on his phone. He went into his messages and looked blankly at his last conversation with Goldie. Images of her pushing him out of the way started replaying in his mind and he tried to figure out a way in which he could have changed how it all went down. He felt frustrated and angry, worried, and most of all, guilty. Turning up the volume, he tried to drown out all of the emotions with his music as he fell asleep.

~

In another part of the mansion Scrooge was pacing by his window. His head was packed with different thoughts and he couldn’t seem to fully push away his instinct to go check on Goldie. However, as she now only knew her as the good Samaritan he had introduced himself as earlier in the day, going to her room this late it felt like an invasion of her privacy. It had been a long while since he had felt so insecure around Goldie. Sure, he hadn’t been able to trust her and they had had rough patches throughout the years, but at least he had known where they stood.

He sighed and looked out the window into the darkness of the night. “Whatever happens, I promise I’ll help you through it” he said silently to himself, chest tight and determination flooding him. They were going to fix this. They had to.


	4. The Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goldie sings which brings out memories from two of the family members

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mainly because I want a reason to fit this song in.  
> It's called When we dig for Gold in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx5vEN4r1fE&ab_channel=Davisx3m and is is a song about people from Europe crossing over the sea in search for gold and a better life in the US, so I just find it very fitting for Goldie and Scrooge. (The singer's love for hair jewellery doesn't hurt either)
> 
> Also, I feel like anyone who spends 10 years in isolation on the moon would develop some issues, so alongside Della's relationship to Goldie, I'm adding to #sendDellatotherapy

The early morning sun was streaming in through the window as Goldie slowly awoke. She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept, but she felt infinitely better than the last time she was awake. With energy she’d previously lacked, she finally left the bed and explored the large room she found herself in.

This Mr McDuck was clearly a wealthy individual based on the décor and the large estate that could be seen from her window. If they knew each other, which based on the previous day’s interaction was very likely, maybe she had previously tried to steal from him? This was after all the sort of individual she would normally target with her deception; extravagantly rich with an eye for beautiful objects. However, that did not seem to be the case as these people seemed attached to her.

Maybe she was in a job? Had she taken it upon herself to lure her way to this older duck’s heart to steal from his fortune? It sounded more likely, but still felt wrong. That sense of warmth and recognition she’d felt when his arm had rested on hers didn’t add up with that explanation. Miss Jane had taught her better than to ever get attached to her subjects. Besides, none of them had ever been more than a bit of fun. This feeling she couldn’t quite place did not fit that.

Feeling rather restless and hungry, Goldie decided to learn more about her situation from the kitchen. Step one of that plan was to find out if she could leave her room. With realistic hope she tried the doorhandle. If the roles were reversed, she would definitely had made sure she wasn’t able to just sneak out, but she knew she also didn’t have all the facts surrounding her circumstances. Because of this, she was only moderately surprised when the large door opened without any issue. 

It was early, so the corridors of what appeared to be a large mansion, were empty. Goldie found herself strolling through them admiring the art which lined the walls. If she was to imagine her dream house, this wouldn’t be far off. As a little girl this is how she’d imagine herself living once “she’d made it big”. Goldie smiled warmly at the memory. The world had been so much simpler back then even if her life hadn’t been.

A stern voice brought her back to the present. “Looking for something?”

Goldie turned around and found herself face to face with an older female duck clad in purple. Based on the fact that she was up this early and the apron she was wearing, Goldie guessed that this was either the Mrs McDuck or the housekeeper. Whoever it was didn’t seem surprised at her presence, merely annoyed by it.

Goldie would love to give a sarcastic reply and something in her was just itching to do so, but she was a guest in an unfamiliar fancy house. She heard Miss Jane’s stern voice inside her head telling her to ‘be more proper’.

“I was just looking for the kitchen. I haven’t eaten since I got here and figured there would be enough of breakfast material in a place like this for me to steal some bread” Goldie said shrugging her shoulders, trying to gage the other Duck’s response.

She got a suspicious look back, and Goldie wondered if this was Mrs McDuck after all. This lady did not seem very thrilled to have her there or trust her at all. Very possessive behaviour indeed. Goldie figured there was little she could do at this point to change that, and made a mental note to appear as unthreatening as possible.

This attempt just received a suspicious glare. “I suppose breakfast wouldn’t be the worst thing to steal in this house. Come with me and I’ll start making some. The kids should be getting up rather soon anyway. Might as well get you out of their way” The other duck turned around and did not wait for Goldie to start following her before she started walking away.

“Kids? Plural?” Goldie asked curiously as she caught up. This was definitely not a job, too many moving pieces. This was something else. But what?...

The other duck looked sternly at her. “Yes. Children. You will have little business with them during your stay here, they have other matters to focus on”

“Fair enough lady. I appreciate you letting me stay here, but don’t let me interrupt anything. I actually feel much better than yesterday, so I will probably be out of your hair by the end of the day” Goldie said, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Being there felt weird and uncomfortable. Like there was an itch in her brain that she couldn’t scratch. In addition to that, the fact that the people here all seemed to have some idea of who she was that she didn’t know about, was unsettling. Normally, other people’s perception of her was her biggest tool. Having it be so out of her control was not nice. Frankly, she was ready to leave as soon as she’d eaten and said the appropriate thank yous.

The purple lady sighed. “Sadly, I very much doubt that”

Before Goldie could ask what she meant by that, they found themselves in the kitchen. It was large and clean in a way that normal kitchens just weren’t. As someone who had spent a lot of time in the kitchen as a young girl, helping out with her dad’s cooking and later taking over the cooking alone, Goldie felt a bit more home than in the large extravagant mansion corridors.

“So, what are we making?” She asked cheerfully at the thought of food and looked around the kitchen, orienting everything in it.

Because of this she missed the astonished stare Mrs Beakley was giving her. “’…’What are _We_ making’?…Oh for goodness sake… You really _don’t_ remember do you?”

Goldie felt the same odd sensation of missing something, but she tried to laugh it off. Clearly there had been a mix up somewhere or something was really wrong. “Haha well, you might want to be a bit more specific with your question there lady. I think you all might be mistaking me for someone else. And look, I don’t want any trouble; You guys brought me here and now I will just have to figure out how to get back to my band and then I’ll be out of your hair. I promise”

She thought her words would ease the other duck’s mood, but it only seemed to change it from annoyed to tired.

She sighed and took a deep breath before she addressed Goldie. “Alright. We will have to start from the beginning here then. My name is Mrs Beakley, I’m Mr McDuck’s housekeeper. We are not mistaken about you and Mr McDuck will explain everything once he wakes up. I will _not_ be doing so in the meantime. Instead, I will accept your help in preparing the breakfast this morning if you can manage to whisk together some eggs to scramble”

So, it was the housekeeper after all. The blatant dislike towards her and the protectiveness over McDuck didn’t fully add up, and once again Goldie felt frustrated that she didn’t have all the pieces to the puzzle. However, the promise of food and answers sounded good to her, so she prepared to help out.

As they cooked together, Mrs Beakley started to give her more involved tasks instead of just letting her add things together and whisk them. They fell into a quiet collaboration with most of the conversation being directions to where certain utensils or ingrediencies were.

As they were nearly finished, Mrs Beakley seemed to realize something. “Hang on a minute. You said you had a band? What kind of band?” She asked curiously

Goldie smiled at the thought. “I sing, Harvey is on the piano, Tam plays the guitar, and Elliott sometimes adds his accordion. We mostly do smaller shows and preform at local pubs, but it’s good fun and makes for a good stepping-stone forward as a lot of different people come to these places”

“You sing? And have a legal income?” Mrs Beakley seemed baffled at the thought. Maybe she did know something about Goldie after all…

Feeling like she would get no answers from Beakley, Goldie decided to distract herself until Breakfast was ready. “Yeah, and I am not shy about it. What to hear something?”

“I suppose I wouldn’t mind”

Without thinking about a particular song, Goldie started humming and the words just found themselves. They just felt right, even though she didn’t know exactly why. She closed her eyes and lost herself to the song.   


**_“Although we have run a thousand miles  
Going to run a thousand more  
And when our journey reached its end  
It always start over once again  
Telling us it's time to start a new  
Telling us it's time for us to leave  
Aheads of every sky and every sea  
For every heart that we have forsaken  
To all the ones who hope  
Plowing on a road  
Do you wanna' join us to the West?  
  
_ **

**_So many have tried but disappeared  
But we have proven that we take  
For in every house been called the home  
Sits all the people that still know  
Carry our compass through the storm  
Petty all the promises been torn  
Agony we know shall soon be gone  
For every heart that we have forsaken  
To all the ones who hope_ **

**_  
Plowing on a road  
Do you wanna' join us to the west?  
For everyone that crossed the Atlantic  
Showed us that you can  
It may be the ends of our dreams  
Waitin' to be saved  
When we dig for gold in the USA”_ **

~

Della had been feeling uneasy since she found out that Goldie O’Gilt was currently in her house. This had resulted in her waking up early and being unable to go back to sleep, which was the reason she was heading for the kitchen so uncharacteristically early. Her feelings towards the other duck had been more complicated, but after a decade on the moon anger, disappointment and distrust had overtaken that complexity.

The fact that both Scrooge and Louie were buying the lie about memory loss worried her. Deception had always been Goldie O’Gilt’s signature move! Surely Scrooge would know that well by now! Louie was young and so she reasoned that he probably hadn’t had much interaction with Goldie. It made sense that he was compelled to trust her lies. That just meant that she might have to do what was best for him, even if he wouldn’t necessarily agree with it.

As she was about to open the kitchen door, she heard a familiar tune which made her stop dead in her tracks. Memories from long ago came flooding back: _Sitting by a campfire together with her brother and uncle in a jungle somewhere, tired but content after a day of adventure. Watching how the singer’s blonde hair turned golden in the light from the campfire flames_. It had been the first time Della had realized just how well Goldie’s name fit her.

Frustrated, Della shook her head at the warm memory. That stuff happened a lifetime ago. Since then she’d learned to know better than to be fooled by Goldie’s charming exterior. Her whole personality was just cold and manipulative… Right?

Another wave of memories and emotions she didn’t even realize she still had suddenly came crashing down over her, and she felt herself tearing up. Confused and suddenly upset, Della quickly spun around to head back to her room before anyone could see her. However, in doing so she almost collided with her uncle.

“Mornin’ lass” Was all she heard before running off so he wouldn’t have time to see her face and realize that something was wrong. She quickly locked herself in her room and sank down with her back against the door whilst trying to avoid hyperventilating. As she sat there, she desperately tried to regain control over her emotions.

She was frustrated at herself. Her response was silly! Someone in her age should not be so easily be thrown off by memories or emotions. Yet this wasn’t a situation she was unfamiliar with. Ever since she’d gotten back from the moon there had been several instances where memories and emotions overwhelmed her out of nowhere. She’d been pretty good at hiding it when it happened, knowing that it would worry her family, it wasn’t something she wanted to broadcast.

Frustrated with herself, she faced her recently reoccurring thought; “What kind of mom will the kids think I am if I can’t even take care of my own emotions?”

~

“Mornin’ lass” Scrooge said as his niece as she suddenly sprinted past him without acknowledging him. He was taken aback by it and was considering going after her to make sure everything was as it should when he heard the familiar tune of Goldie’s voice.

He stopped to listen outside the door, not wanting to disturb the performance. Melancholy struck his heart as he realized what song she was singing. It was the same song he’d heard her sing the very first time they’d met.

He had been grumpy, but transfixed by her singing and when they had started chatting after the performance, she had completely charmed him. It had not taken long before she’d slipped him a sleeping pill in his drink and stolen his money. His decision to follow her the next day and reclaim his money had been the start of their very long game of cat and mouse.

He had many regrets regarding Goldie, but that night was definitely not one of them. The song and Goldie had been part of so many different eras of his life. Never there fully, but never fully gone either. Trying to pin Goldie O’Gilt down was like trying to catch smoke.

As the song came to its end Scrooge noticed a few tears in his eyes. Wiping them away he mentally prepared himself for the upcoming conversation. The situation was not going to be easy to explain.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the kitchen door.


	5. The Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time everyone gets informed about the situation, including the situation herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a bit of a week, but here's a slightly longer update!

After the previous night’s discussion, the last thing Scrooge was expecting to see as he stepped into the kitchen was Goldie and Beakley collaborating. Additionally, the Goldie he knew usually only sang on special occasions or as a distraction. Preparing breakfast, for what looked to be the whole family, did not fit those criteria.

“Good morning McDuck” Goldie greeted him as she was transferring blueberry muffins from her tray onto a plate. Her hair was tied up in a loose ponytail and her smile looked carefree and genuine.

His jaw hit the floor. The scene in front of him was more domestic than he would have ever imagined finding Goldie O’Gilt in. A pink blush started spreading across his beak as he felt like he’d walked into an alternative reality. His brain seemed to short circuit at the sight.

Beakley seemed to notice his utter surprise as she rolled her eyes at him and gracefully gave him a way out. “Mr McDuck, breakfast is almost ready. If you wouldn’t mind, could you go make sure the kids are up?”

Still processing what he was seeing, Scrooge thankfully took it. “Um...Ah yes… thank you Bentina, I will go do so immediately”. And so he exited the kitchen much faster than he’d entered it. 

On his way to the boys’ room, he knocked on Della’s door. “Lass are you alright?”

Without opening her door Della answered. “Oh I’m fine uncle Scrooge! I just …uh.. got a phone call from Launchpad! He’s trying to instal this new sink in his place and he seems to have cut the electricity. Classic Launchpad! So, I’m trying to help make sure he doesn’t burn his house down. I’ll come down in a bit!” Della’s voice was strained, but dealing with Launchpad’s logic could do that to anyone.

Scrooge didn’t think much of it. “Alright, best of luck!”

He then carried on to the boy’s room where Webby and Huey were already up and talking quietly. Dewey was in bed on his phone and Louie seemed to still be asleep.

“Mornin’ kids” He said as he walked into the room.

“Good morning Uncle Scrooge” echoed the kids who were awake.

Scrooge looked at Huey and Webby “What are you two up to this early?”

Webby looked guilty, and before Huey could stop her, she answered. “Oh, definitely not looking up texts dealing with magically induced amnesia. That would be silly!”

Huey facepalmed. “We just wanted to see if there were any previously recorded cases of it so we would know better what we are dealing with”

Scrooge smiled at their eagerness to help. “Good initiative. What do you say about joining me downstairs for some breakfast before deep diving into research?”

Scrooge was hoping that having the kids there would help with the absurdity of the situation.

Dewey however noticed that something was out of the ordinary. “Wait a second” He said as he sat up in his bed. “Why are you waking us up for breakfast? You never wake us up for breakfast! What’s up with mom and Mrs B?”

“Della is on a call with Launchpad and Bentina is in the kitchen with Goldie finishing up breakfast” Scrooge replied

“I’m sorry I thought I heard you say that Goldie was in the kitchen finishing up breakfast? Am I the only one hearing these auditory hallucinations?” Asked Dewey dramatically

Scrooge sighed “Yes lad. I am also surprised that Bentina would let her do that, but that’s what’s happening. Anyway, that means there is plenty of food to go around, so why don’t the three of you go downstairs and I’ll wake up Louie before joining you?”

“Sure!”

“Absolutely!”

Dewey looked like he might have more to say, but nodded in agreement and followed his brother and Webby out of the room.

Scrooge changed his focus to the sleeping triplet. He was surprised Louie hadn’t woken up from their talking, but then he noticed the headphones on his head. Walking over to the bed, Scrooge gently shook Louie awake. His great nephew sleepily opened his eyes. It looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep. Scrooge could understand that. Some food would probably do them both some good. Even if the impossible explanation was also due.

Scrooge pulled off Louie’s headphones with is cane. “Come on lad, up you go. It’s time for breakfast”

Louie yawned. “Can’t I just sleep until lunch instead?”

“We have a long day ahead of us. Huey and Webby have already started looking at some texts and I figured we could join them later. But first we need some energy. So how about you get dressed and come downstairs?”

“Fine” Louie answered, dragging himself out of bed. He was happy Goldie was alright, but it didn’t mean that she was in any way okay. He himself wasn’t too thrilled at facing all the conflicting feelings he had surrounding that.

Content with all the kids being awake and on their way, Scrooge returned downstairs to the dining room. Goldie sat at the edge of the table, probably strategically placed there by Beakley so she would be less likely to talk to all the kids. Webby had still managed to sit next to Goldie and was currently paying all her attention to the older duck, ignoring the breakfast in front of her and the suspicious stare from her grandmother.

The chair at the head of the table was still free, so Scrooge went and took his normal seat there. Not that anything about this situation felt normal. It was much too domestic of a situation to find Goldie O’Gilt in. But part of him started to wish that it had been more normal. In a different life they could have spent every morning like this… Scrooge stopped himself from going down that path of thinking. He had a duty to this Goldie and thinking about what could have been was not going to help them.

As he looked up Goldie met his gaze. There was still no recognition in her face, but there was definitely something there that hadn’t been present the previous day.

A familiar calculating expression found itself to Goldie’s face as she addressed him “So…Is this the time you tell me what is really going on here and how you all know me?”

Stunned Scrooge stammered “How did you…? Who told you that?!”

Smirking like a cat Goldie answered confidently. “Oh please! It was obvious from the moment I woke up. I seem to be having some memory troubles, but that doesn’t mean I’ve turned into an idiot! Frankly I’m insulted you would try to hide it from me in the first place!”

Scrooge glanced at Mrs Beakley who just shrugged. This was not how he’d imagine this conversation and he felt unsure of where to go next. “I suppose that makes sense. You’ve always been too nosey for your own good”

“And that nicely brings me back to my question. How on earth do _you_ know that? To my knowledge I have never met any of you before yesterday” Goldie said and gestured around the table as Louie was just arriving and taking a seat. “I think I would have remembered seeing four colour coded children and their rich family + housekeeper”

Dewey leaned over the table, suspiciously eyeing Goldie, and before Scrooge could address her question the blue triplet spoke; “Right, so with that in mind, lets pretend all of that is a lie, which one of us kids is would be your favourite?”

“Lad…” Scrooge said with warning in his voice

Goldie starred back at Dewey with a playful smile. “Considering you are currently challenging me, Red over there is trying to read whilst eating, missing his mouth in the process, and that the green kid was by my side as I woke up, I have a strange feeling it would be Hoodie over there” She pointed at Louie who had a strange look on his face

Dewey’s gaze didn’t falter. “Okay that was too easy! You could easily have made that up just now. We need a better question…hey!”

Mrs Beakley picked him up mid-sentence and carried him and his plate to the other end of the table where he sat down reluctantly.

Happy, yet hesitant to be back on track, Scrooge spoke again. “Right, so lass there’s no simple way of putting this, I’ve…we’ve known you for a while now, but you seem to have lost about a century’s worth of memory”

Anger and disbelief welled up in Goldie’s eyes. “I’m sorry WHAT?! Clearly, you can’t expect me to believe that?!”

“It’s the truth. Come on, you know me O’Gilt! You might not remember it, but there’s gotta be some instinct of yours telling you, you can trust me” Scrooge pleaded

This seemed to have some effect on Goldie, but was clearly not enough to convince her as she kept trying to stare him down. “If I’d lost that much memory, I would have to be over a hundred years old. Now one should never ask about a lady’s age, but you can’t expect me to believe that I’m that old!”

“Well there’s a lot to be said about that and besides I’m as old as you! That’s all part of our history as well. How can I get you to believe me lass?” Scrooge was growing frustrated.

Before Goldie could answer him, Louie piped up from the other side of the table. “You’ve got a picture of Uncle Scrooge in your wallet. If you can trust him that close to your money, you can trust him now. Also, this can’t be the weirdest thing you’ve seen right? You’re an adventurer!”

Looking from Louie and back to Scrooge, Goldie reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin wallet and opened it. Scrooge couldn’t see the inside of it, but the look on Goldie’s face as she looked up at him told him what he needed to know. She kept a photo of him with her. The realization warmed him and he couldn’t help but smile. Oh how he was going to tease her about that once it was all over.

For now, he looked sympathetically at her. “I know it’s not what you’d want to hear, but it’s the truth”

Goldie looked like she desperately wanted him to tell her it was all a joke. When nobody cracked and the silence in the room got too loud, she simply sighed and briefly buried her head in her hands.

“Ugh…alright! I guess we’re going with that then! One of you better have a good explanation of how this happened and what I’ve been doing in the meantime and frankly how I’m not dead yet!” She looked up and gave Scrooge a stern look.

“Right, so you see you’ve been a treasure hunter and adventurer for most of your life, the entire time I’ve known you you’ve always been on the hunt for valuables one way or another. Some of those artifacts include fountains of youths which I know you have at least visited twice in the time I’ve known you.” As he spoke, Scrooge glanced to gage Goldie’s reaction. She was now looking at him with interest.

He continued “We’ve been on several expeditions together from time to time and the last one was yesterday when you got trapped in some mystical mist which appears to have erased most of your memories” Scrooge explained. Carefully choosing his words. He didn’t want to add too much as he didn’t actually know how this younger-minded Goldie would react to hearing how her older self was a successful con-woman.

After he stopped speaking Goldie just stared at him for a minute, probably processing what he’s just said. Scrooge felt oddly nervous being evaluated like so.

“Suppose I believe you, which I’m not saying I am, what would be the next step in this mess?

“Well, it would be to try and figure out a way to reverse the effects. The kids have already started looking into it. You’d be welcome to stay here until you have your memory back” Scrooge said. Hoping she would agree to it. The Goldie he knew would not have agreed easily. She would have wanted to sort things out herself from her own home base.

However, this version of Goldie was a lot younger and did not seem to have the same walls up as when she was older. She seemed less worried and more like she was gearing up for a new adventure.

“Alright! If you’re fine with me staying in your elaborate mansion until my memory is back, who am I to complain? Although…I would need to go and pick up some of my clothes. I’m sure this adventure gear is useful, but it is not very stylish and could probably do with a wash soon”. She gestured to her current clothes and chuckled lightly.

Scrooge felt his cheeks got hotter. He hadn’t even thought about that. Goldie had never stayed long enough for the spare clothes she sometimes brough with her to run out. Additionally, he now had to admit that he had never actually been to her current home. Whenever he’d asked about it she had just leaned close to him and said “A girl needs to keep some secrets to herself”, which usually distracted him enough to let the question go.

“Ehem, sooo. I am actually not quite sure where you live nowadays. How about you just borrow some of Della’s clothes?” Scrooge asked avoidantly

The triplets, Webby, and Mrs Beakley all just stared at him.

“Mr McDuck I would like to remind you of yesterday’s occurrence” Mrs Beakley started.

“It is highly unlikely mom would be positive to that idea” Huey continued

Dewey nodded in agreement “Yeah mom would probably try and kick you if you suggested it to her”

“They’re not wrong” Louie said avoidantly but trying to get the point across to his uncle

Scrooge sighed. They were right. “Alright everyone I get the point. I guess there is just one thing to do then”

“SHOPPING! Ooo a MAKEOVER!” Webby excitedly exclaimed as she jumped up on the table.

“Yes lass, but don’t get too excited. We need enough minds here at the mansion to start the research so…” Scrooge countered., He didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm, but the earlier they could get started with their investigation the better.

“Oh great that you said that because I might have invited Violet and Lena already!” Webby said and laughed sheepishly

As if summoned by the mention of their names, Lena slammed the door open to the dining room with Violet following behind her.

“Good morning Pink! We heard you’ve got an amnesiac case on your hands!....Oh hi” Lena exclaimed before realizing how many people were actually in the room

“Hello everyone. We brought further reading material to go through and evaluate. I hope we were not interrupting anything, Duckworth let us in and then we heard Webby’s voice coming from here” Violet addressed the room who was now starring at the two ducks.

Goldie looked from the new arrivals to Scrooge and humorously commented in a hushed voice so the kids wouldn’t hear. “Seems like your kids are just multiplying. Someone’s been busy”

Turning very red, Scrooge replied quickly “They are not my kids. Well, they are! But not mine mine. They are family”

Goldie just laughed at his embarrassment. “You know, I think I’m going to enjoy my stay here”


	6. The Mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting clothes and getting answers, both are equally important right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates are currently slightly less frequent than before, because BUSY, but if anyone here hasn't seen the "Dickie in Duckberg Comics from https://lettheladylead.tumblr.com/, I highly recommed you go read those! They also drew a scence from the last chapter and it's so great! (https://lettheladylead.tumblr.com/post/645258881013006336/felt-like-doodling-a-scene-from-this-fic-cuz-its). Thank you for enjoying and interacting with this fic!

With the arrival of Lena and Violet, the ducks divided up into different teams with separate tasks for the day.

Scrooge, Goldie, Webby, and Dewey were to go shopping. With Mrs Beakley overseeing the house and helping out where needed, Huey and Lena were to go through the magic books they had brought over, whereas Violet and Louie were to start looking in the regular library books and adventure journals.

As Della hadn’t come out of her room yet, Scrooge had assumed Launchpad would be busy and decided to drive them himself instead.

It had surprised him when Dewey had volunteered alongside Webby to go get Goldie some clothes, but as they were nearing the mall, his nephew had asked Goldie more questions to try to catch her lying than Scrooge could count. He mildly regretted his decision to let his nephew join them. 

Goldie surprisingly didn’t seem to mind too much as she sarcastically answered all the questions whilst teasing Dewey for asking bad questions. Webby had unsurprisingly also been asking many questions, but most of them were about times Goldie no longer remembered and so were easily answered with a “I have no idea what you’re talking about”. 

As they arrived to the shopping centre Webby quickly dragged the party to a fancy clothing store and Goldie’s face lit up. She realized the person they were used to was very different to the version of herself that she was, but if this is the type of life she was currently living, maybe she wouldn’t mind that much.

However, there was one downside with this older version of her. Based on the distrusting nature of the housekeeper, the jokes about stealing and the blue one’s many questions, it seemed like she was still living on the wrong side of the law. The law had always been something she would cross from time to time when suitable or necessary, but it was slightly odd to her that she would still be doing it at such an old age. She would have thought she’d settled down by then. Had she still now found whatever she was searching for?

Nevertheless, those thoughts were far back in her mind as she walked around the store looking at all the luxury items the young duck in pink kept pointing out to her. She smiled as she took it all in, and her glance fell on some gorgeous tops. She picked up a few to try on, and before she knew it, the little girl was adding several items to the no longer small pile in her arms.

“Are we planning on bankrupting your uncle kiddo?” Goldie asked jokingly 

“Oh, Uncle Scrooge is not actually my uncle, and don’t worry he has enough money to pay for some of this stuff even if he doesn’t want to!” Webby replied with a smile as she continued to pile clothes in Goldie’s arms.

“Well, he should also use it to buy some more fresh outfits for himself, or you know, for _Me_!” Dewey came up to them wearing a new blue jacket and bandana with a pair of enormous blue-tinted sunglasses.

Goldie snickered at the sight. “You guys really go all in with this colour-coding stuff. It’s adorable”

Dewey seemed appalled by the words “I am not adorable! I am cool! Webbs! Tell her I’m not adorable!”

Dewey’s reaction just made Goldie laugh more and Webby seemed to struggle to keep a straight face as well.

“Oh of course not. You are definitely cool, the coolest even. Definitely not adorable!” Goldie managed to answer with a pretend straight face

“Thank you, see it wasn’t that har… Waaaait a minute! That didn’t sound very sincere… Uncle Scrooge! Tell your amnesiac to admit that I’m cool!” Dewey exclaimed

“Settle down lad. If the two of you can find yourself one useful thing each today, I will buy it for you” Scrooge said tiredly.

Goldie noticed how the phrase seemed to hurt him and felt even more amused.

The kids’ eyes lit up and they started to excitedly sprint away from the two adults blabbering at the same time as each other about the best strategy for narrowing down the best items to go for.

Now alone, Goldie looked at Scrooge and gave him a small impressed smile. “I am amazed at how fast you got the youngsters to do exactly what you wanted them to. Hopefully it won’t be too costly on your end”

Scrooge smiled back at her and she felt a strangely familiar warm feeling in her mind. “Aye, the kids are smart, but they have much to learn. Besides, this way I get some peace before heading back.”

“Why did you not just leave them at the mansion then?”

“And face Webbagail’s brooding over having missed her chance to go shopping with you? There was no chance of leaving her behind once Bentina had agreed that she could go” Scrooge chuckled

“She’s the housekeeper’s then? She didn’t say much about herself except for “Hi, I’m Webby” before she started asking me about you” Goldie said as she started heading towards the dressing rooms and waved Scrooge to follow her.

“Her granddaughter yes. And that does not surprise me. The wee ones have a lot of energy and Webby likes to use hers to solve mysteries” Scrooge followed her

“I classify as a mystery then? Not sure if I should be flattered or look down on their investigation skills. Honestly, I’m not even that secretive, they have just stuck to asking me questions I don’t know the answers to” She said playfully as she looked behind her to meet his gaze.

The dressing rooms were even more expensive looking than the rest of the store. They were currently the only ones in them and so Goldie gestured to the sofa for Scrooge to sit on as she went into one of the rooms.

As she was trying on the clothes she started thinking more about her situation. This whole experience was so far away from what she was used to. There was nothing she got without working for it, one way or another. This was very different, but it felt nice.

This random rich family she supposedly knew, was showing her what life with financial freedom would be like. The fact that all of them were seemingly dropping everything to solve a problem just showed how little they had to worry about their day-to-day life. It was a luxury she has been unable to allow herself in so long. As far as amnesiac episodes went, this must be one of the best.

Whilst trying on clothes she’d found a couple items she liked and put to the side and now as she was near the bottom of the pile, she noticed one of the first things Webby had handed her. It was a dress going from red to gold like fire. It was gorgeous and was definitely going to be hers.

As he waited, Scrooge was thinking about what Goldie had said just before they got to the dressing room. Maybe the kids really were going about this all in the wrong way. Maybe instead of trying to figure out how little this Goldie knew about him and his life, maybe they should try and get to know this version of Goldie.

For all she looked the same, there was something with the way in which she looked more relaxed overall that made her seem drastically different. Her face was gentler, her manners less guarded and friendly, her step lighter, and most dissimilar of all, she seemed open and trusting. Even Mrs Beakley seemed to have noticed this change, as she’d let Webby join the shopping trip after only minimal begging from the child.

It was different, but not in a bad way. It did mean that he felt a lot more protective of this younger minded Goldie, as she didn’t exude the same level of ‘Come over here and I will knock your teeth in’ as the normal version. There was still some bite to her he could tell, it was just not as rough and gritty as he was used to.

A familiar voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts. “Ehem…what do you think about this one?”

As Scrooge looked up at Goldie his heart skipped a beat. She was wearing a beautiful dress that reminded him of older times and she looked stunning. The teasing glint in her eyes told him that she was aware of this fact and it made him blush again.

Attempting to hide this fact, he tried to sound more like his usual grumpy self. “It looks….nice. Hopefully it is not too expensive though? I can’t spend a fortune on clothes when I have two youngsters running loose preparing for me to buy them god knows what”

Goldie just smiled at his comment and he had a strong feeling she was seeing right through him. She sat down next to him and leaned closer. “Oh I don’t know. I have a feeling that this dress will be leaving with us one way or another. You wouldn’t want to have to explain to the store why you are buying clothes for an amnesiac woman who you’re keeping in your house?” She teased

Scrooge knew that she was right. It would be rather hard for him to explain the situation to anyone if Goldie decided to make a scene. However, from the second he’d seen her in the dress, he was already planning to buy it for her. It just fit her so perfectly. He was sure she’d find a reason to wear it at some point. It could be excused as a thank you gift for saving Louie. “I supposed buying it for you would be the easier option here”

Goldie smiled and blew him a kiss as she got up from the sofa, further deepening his blush. He had gotten more used to Goldie’s manners over the years, but this younger version made it all feel newer and uncharted again.

As Goldie disappeared back into the changing room to change back into her regular clothes, he decided to instead wonder if the kids at home had made any progress yet.

~

Louie slumped his head against the big book on the table in front of him. “This is useless. There are too many books here, we’re not getting anywhere! I mean who even reads this much anyway?!”

Violet popped up from the stack of books surrounding her at her end of the table. “I am personally very excited about the number of books here and the knowledge they all hold. I would love to read them all, but I must agree with you. We are not making much progress. Perhaps it would be beneficial to take a break?”

“Yeesss!” Louie sighed as he kept his head down on the book. He was feeling very strange about the whole situation, and part of him just wanted to escape from it all and pretend it never happened. He did want to help, but so far, he had been unable to get anything useful from the many books he’d forced himself to read. It was all just making him feel worse.

Part of him wished he was nerdy smart like Huey so he could be enthusiastic about all the reading, and maybe have an easier time getting through the dusty old texts. He knew his strength lay in seeing the angels of different situations, but this situation only had one angel as far as he was concerned. He’d not been fast enough and now he couldn’t even figure out how to help.

Louie sighed loudly into the books.

A hand suddenly appeared at his shoulder and as he questioningly looked up, Violet was standing at his side.

“You seem troubled. Lena says physical contact is a good way of showing sympathy. Would you like to talk about whatever seems to be disturbing you?” She asked with her normal directness.

Louie would normally not share his insecurities. He had a brand to uphold after all with Louie Inc, and it just didn’t feel right to share with his brothers. However, Violet had seen him falter in the spice-off and had his back.

Louie sighed again. “I just…I just feel useless in all of this! Like it’s my fault and I can’t even find something in these stupid books to fix it”

Violet looked at him for a second, seemingly considering his statement. “With the information Webby provided us about the event I don’t understand how you could have come to the conclusion that this is your fault? Was it not the mist that took away Miss O’Gilt’s memories?”

“Yeah of course it was, but…” Louie started

Violet interrupted him before he could continue. “Are you not also currently researching old books in order to uncover potential information surrounding the situation?”

“I mean yeah, but that’s not enough” 

“So, with that logic, are you saying that I am not doing enough to help the situation either then?” Violet asked, starring him down.

Louie looked shocked at her. “What?! No! You’re doing the best you can, it’s not your fault that you haven’t found anything yet!”

As Violet’s face broke out in a smug grin, Louie realized what she’d just done. 

“You have been here the entire morning together with me. Unless you are ready to say that I have not done enough, you also cannot say that about yourself.” She said as stating a matter of fact.

Louie shot a small smile back at her. “I guess that’s fair. I just can’t stop feeling like it should be me though” He looked down at the book in front of him for the end of the sentence, so Violet couldn’t see his face.

Nodding slightly Violet answered him. “I can understand that. However, something my dads’ have taught me, is that parents much prefer to get caught in the fallout of a situation rather than having their child fall ill. Even if that can make them seem reckless. Based on her actions, it seems that Miss O’Gilt would have preferred this outcome, rather than having your roles be reversed.”

As Louie thought about what that implied for his relationship with Goldie, Lena burst through the door. “We think we’ve found something! Come on!” She exclaimed excitedly as she waved the two towards where she came from.

Violet and Louie looked at each other before starting to follow Lena. “I guess it’s good someone’s made more progress than us haha…and…Hey Vi?... Thanks” Louie felt slightly embarrassed, yet a bit relieved.

Looking back at him as they walked, Violet replied. “You are very welcome. Now let’s go see how we can solve Miss O’Gilt’s situation!” 


End file.
